After the WorldCon, we had a bit more than a week left in Helsinki - plenty of time to get to know the city a little better. So we went to see the sights.

There were, of course, churches, among them the famous one below ground, set into the rock, and the cathedral.

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The Cathedral. Big, white, shiny - but mostly from the outside.


We took walks around, enjoying the many green stretches (always with rocks in!) and the lots and lots of bike paths (even though we didn't rent bikes).

We also enjoyed the beautiful houses in the Finnish Art Nouveau quarters - that definitely is a distinctive variation of Art Nouveau, just like the guidebooks promised.

To us, it seemed like sort of regular Art Nouveau mixed up with a slightly romantic "Castle Architecture" - think fairytale or Disney castles.

And we also visited Suomenlinna, which is a chain of small islands right before the coast of Helsinki, once used as fortification. Part of it is still in use by the military, and the rest is mostly museums and cafes or restaurants. The museums include a submarine, which we also visited (as the Most Patient Husband of Them All has never been inside one before).

We also got to see barnacle geese!